KEY POINTS:
Almost 60 per cent of the country's primary school teachers are failing to reach the top grade when it comes to teaching writing.
An Education Review Office report released today evaluated the quality of the teaching of writing at Year 4 and Year 8 in 159 state schools during Term 4 last year.
It found 41 per cent of teachers were effective or highly effective across the six areas of good quality teaching evaluated in the report. A further 46 per cent were effective in some areas of teaching but less effective in others. And 13 per cent needed to improve significantly across all aspects.
The report identified several areas for development for improving teaching practice, including identifying and meeting the needs of all students, improving assessment of student achievements, and integrating information and communication technologies into writing programmes.
The report found that teachers in urban schools were more likely than those in rural schools to effectively assess students' learning in writing, and teachers who had received recent professional development in writing were more likely to be effective across all areas of the evaluation.
School-wide policies and planning at many schools did not support the teaching, assessment, evaluation, and reporting of writing.
Education Minister Steve Maharey said $111 million was invested in professional development during 2005/2006 to improve teaching and learning in key areas, including literacy/writing and numeracy.
"For example, literacy development projects are already getting results in many primary schools," Mr Maharey said.
"The reading comprehension schools within the project have made a significant shift in student achievement for the cohort as a whole but, more importantly, they have picked up the pace of achievement for the lowest performing students.
"The writing schools within the project have made a significant shift in student achievement for each year group and for the cohort as a whole but, more importantly, they have picked up the pace of achievement for students in the bottom 20 per cent."
The report found that over two-thirds of teachers were effective in curriculum design, used resources effectively, had good subject and teaching knowledge, and effectively engaged and motivated students in writing.
But the development of appropriate strategies to identify and meet the needs of all students in class continued to be an area for development for many teachers.
